


Rintaro's Winter Holidays

by 27twinsister



Category: Kamen Rider Saber
Genre: Christmas, Cultural Differences, Dessert & Sweets, Food, Gen, Gift Giving, Holidays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:20:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27405667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/27twinsister/pseuds/27twinsister
Summary: Christmas is coming up! But there's a different holiday first: the Winter Feast.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7
Collections: Another Toku Holiday Special (2020)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MrsLemonYellow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrsLemonYellow/gifts).



Touma always put up decorations at the very start of December. In his bookstore, that included putting books about Christmas on display so they would be seen easily at the entrance, and a fake tree that he and Mei decorated.  
This year was different since they had to account for the Book Gate (so they didn't accidentally put the tree there) and the fact that people could come through after closing hours. The people in question being people from Sword of Logos.  
"Hey! What are you guys doing?" Ren asked as he came through the Book Gate, with Kento and Rintaro following.  
"Decorating," Mei answered. She was organizing ornaments for the tree, and Touma was setting the fake tree up. "Wanna join us?"  
"Whoa! You have a Christmas tree!" Ren realized, going to bug Touma, who was going to get a string of lights.  
"I do. Please back up," Touma requested, starting the lights from the top of the tree.  
"What is Christmas?" Rintaro asked, targeting the question at Kento.  
"Do you not know what Christmas is?" Kento realized.  
"I haven't had an opportunity to read about it at the Sword of Logos."  
"You live at the North Pole and don't know what Christmas is?" Ren laughed.  
"It's a holiday," Kento answered quickly, hoping that would end the conversation. It didn't.  
"Christmas is a holiday where people spend time with their family and friends, and most families have dinner and exchange gifts," Mei explained. "It's really fun."  
"Do you guys celebrate Christmas?" Touma asked Kento and Ren. He could recall celebrating Christmas with Kento once, a long time ago.  
"Not really. Though we do- I'll let Rintaro explain it," Kento decided.  
"Hm?" Rintaro was confused.  
"Tell them about the seasonal feasts," Kento prompted.

"Oh! We have seasonal feasts every 3 months, in March, June, September, and December" Rintaro started. "It's a gathering, sort of like Christmas, where everyone eats lots of food. Traditionally, many families gather in the same venue, and every household brings part of the meal. The host makes the main dish. There aren't any gifts. Though the host can keep the food that was brought or give it to others to take home."  
"That sounds fun," Touma smiled.  
"It is. Sophia and the others always celebrate with me at the Northern Base."  
Touma briefly wondered why Rintaro didn't go home and celebrate with his family but decided not to ask.  
"When I was younger, I was only allowed to eat treats during those feasts, during dessert. They're very special to me," Rintaro continued.  
"The feasts?" Kento asked.  
"The desserts," Ren answered. Kento ignored him.  
"The gatherings," Rintaro confirmed. "This year's Winter Feast is coming up on the first Monday of December."  
"Oh, that's soon," Touma realized.  
"Can Touma and I join you?" Mei asked.  
"Of course! Though I do want to celebrate Christmas," Rintaro said.  
"You need to make a list of what you want for Christmas then," Ren joked.  
"Hm?" Rintaro considered this. "Are there any rules?"  
"No?" Ren guessed.  
"Hey Ren, help us decorate," Kento said, looking at the ornaments for the tree. "Rintaro, you don’t have to write a list if you don’t want to."  
Rintaro decided to help decorate instead.

On December 5, Rintaro stopped by the bookstore again. For some reason, he hadn't expected Mei to be there. Well, it wasn't Mei, it was Mei dressed up as an old lady wearing red.  
Luckily, he had been reading about Christmas, and knew Mei was dressed as Mrs. Claus. Santa Claus' wife. Touma was dressed as Santa in a classic red suit, with a fake white beard attached to a hat.  
"Oh, hey Rintaro," Touma noticed him. "Some kids are coming over to read a story in a bit, wanna join us?"  
"May I?"  
"Of course!"  
"I would like to, though also I came to confirm that you are coming over tomorrow for the Winter Feast?"  
"Oh, of course we are!" Touma confirmed. "We'll be there," he confirmed as some kids arrived.  
"Look! It's Santa!"  
"Ho ho ho! Welcome! Are you here to read a story?" Touma asked, giving them his attention.  
"Oh," Mei came over. "They can join us for our storytime, dear."  
Rintaro quietly sat in the back and joined them for a story.  
The kids chose the book Frosty the Snowman, which Rintaro has never read before. Mei was paying attention to his reactions as Touma focused on the kids. After the story, Rintaro talked with Mei.  
"I had never heard of that story before! It's fascinating!"  
"It is really good," Mei agreed. "You should read more Christmas stories. We definitely have a bunch."  
"Though, did Frosty the Snowman ever come back?" Rintaro asked, oddly concerned.  
"Of course!" Mei assured him.

Touma and Mei were a bit nervous. They asked Kento if there was a dress code, but he said their normal clothes would be fine. He also confirmed that they would be eating at five, but of course everyone would be there earlier, so Touma and Mei could come by anytime. (Also, bring eclairs.)  
They arrived just before five, bringing eclairs from the nearby bakery. They made sure there would be one for everyone, and one extra.  
When they walked through the Book Gate, the first person they saw was Tetsuo.  
“You’re right on time,” Tetsuo said as he took the box of eclairs to avoid making eye contact. “We’ll be eating in the dining room, it’s this way.” He lead the civilians to the door. “I’ll be right there. You go without me.”  
The dining room was big. Sora was impatiently waiting for food, asking his father how long it would be. Kento, Rintaro, and Ren were all chatting. Ren noticed Touma and Mei first.  
“They’re here!”  
“Welcome,” Rintaro greeted them.  
“Hi guys!” Mei replied. Touma stayed quiet, hoped that there wasn’t any formalities he didn’t know about regarding what they had to do when they sat down, or that the food wouldn’t be weird. 

The meal went pretty normally, all things considered. Everyone sat down, passing food around. There wasn’t anything food that was super unfamiliar to Touma or Mei. Sora was pretty well-behaved, probably with the promise of dessert being a factor. Rintaro seemed happy just to be there.  
For dessert, there was a chocolate cake that seemed to be homemade. It was round and had a snowflake drawn on it in icing.  
“I helped make it!” Sora declared.  
“You did! He picked the flavour,” his father clarified.  
"Aww! Thank you!"  
Rintaro got the first piece of cake, but everyone got a piece.  
Rintaro took a bite of cake. It was just chocolate cake, which he had eaten before, but he had sweets pretty rarely so he always savoured every bite.  
There was also ice cream (in various flavours: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, mint chocolate chip), sugar cookies, and the eclairs that Touma brought (which Rintaro LOVED).  
"I think I've had enough sweets for the next month," Touma laughed as he finished.  
"But what about Christmas Cake?" Mei asked.  
"Ah! You're right! We'll figure that out later."  
Everyone managed to eat most of the food, and the leftovers were kept in the fridge at the Northern Base.


	2. Chapter 2

About two and a half weeks after the feast, it was Christmas! Touma decided to invite everyone for dinner on Christmas Eve, and have gifts on Christmas Day. He didn't expect anyone to bring gifts, but he picked out a book for everyone and Mei looked for small stuffed animals and things. They kept the gifts safely in a storage area, already wrapped, and would put them under the tree on Christmas Day.  
Which was easier said than done when Rintaro believed in Santa, and wanted to sleep over to see Santa.  
"But Santa only comes when everyone in the house is asleep. And he'll know you're still awake," Touma convinced him. "You can sleep over if you want. But we won't see Santa."  
"But perhaps..."  
After dinner (and some gingersnap cookies for dessert) Rintaro, Ren, and Kento slept over. They stayed up fairly late, but decided to sleep just before midnight.  
Touma was really quiet. He went to the storage room and took the gifts, which were already wrapped and had names on them, to the main room of his shop, and quietly put all the gifts (labelled "from Santa") under the tree.  
Touma snuck back to bed when he was done.

Ren was the first one awake and snooping around the tree.  
"Rintaro, look! Santa came! These gifts are for you."  
"I wonder what they are," Rintaro spoke. It was fairly obvious that most of the gifts were books, but they were different shapes and sizes.  
Presents were opened a little later, when Ryo, Sora, and Tetsuo came over. Mei also arrived, ready to take pictures and document the event.  
Sora was definitely the least patient, wanting to open gifts and see what everyone got from Santa. Sora got a Magic Tree House book and a stuffed dragon that he immediately named Flame.  
Santa got Touma a new notebook and some pens, which he kind of needed anyway.  
Mei got a daily planner and a soft blanket.  
Ryo's gifts were a mug and a pair of slippers.  
Kento got a journal with a lock and key, and a stuffed octopus that could be either yellow and happy or orange and mad. He flipped it to be yellow and happy for now.  
Ren received a book about dinosaurs with very cool pictures and a few dinosaur action figures to go with it.  
Tetsuo got a copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales and a remote-controlled car (that he immediately wanted to take apart to see how it worked.)  
Rintaro got a box of eclairs (that was labelled as specifically for Rintaro) and a _My First Christmas_ ornament.  
"Can we put it on the tree?" Rintaro asked, knowing that's where ornaments go.  
"Of course! Where do you want to put it?"  
Rintaro put it on the front of the tree, not too high, so everyone could see it.  
It was a very merry Christmas.


End file.
